Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunchback of Notre Dame or anything to do with it. However, I do own Diamanta Devereux, her father, Oliver, Cecile Devereux, Madame Doreen,and Judge Thomas Gautier.

Note: No, the story isn't finished. I, too, am a Clopin fan and refuse to finish the story with such a terrible ending as I have in this piece of it. I don't know how many chapters there will be, but there'll be enough for the story to make all Clopin fans fulfilled.

Sorry people, but for now I'm taking a break from this story to write a Harry Potter fanfiction. Don't worry, when I do get back to this story, I'll tell all of you when I've updated.

Chapter #14

Oliver opened his eyes. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was realizing that the wretched man who stole his beloved Diamanta from him was alive. I will kill him someday. Then Diamanta will be mine forever. Now he sat in a rather colorful place. One of the gypsys' wagons, he observed. Suddenly a pitcher of ice-cold water was thrown in his face. He shook the water away and whipped his head in the direction of where it came from. To his absolute surprise, Clopin stood only inches from him with a wide smile spread across his face.

"Morning, Sunshine!" he said in a mock-sweet voice. Oliver immediately threw his body toward Clopin, but the ropes that bonded him to the wagon were too strong. Clopin shook a finger at him and clicked his tongue. "Temper, temper. Is that the way to treat the man who decided to not let you rot in prison?"

"I would rather let Gautier kill me than see you alive," Oliver hissed, his brown eyes burning with rage. Clopin ignored him.

"When we began to leave the jail cell, everyone started to leave you behind. But no, I saw you and a quick flash of pity came upon me." Clopin noticed Oliver eyeing his dagger. He took it off his body and threw it across the wagon. "So I decided to let you live. That is, unless you give me a reason to not do so." Oliver sneered at him.

"It really was a stupid choice for you to do that. You do know that if I live, you die, correct?" Clopin raised an eyebrow at him. "You are a fool, Clopin," Oliver said, "to think we would both live when there is a prize to claim."

"Prize?"

"Diamanta, you idiot!" In a second, Clopin pulled out his puppet.

"See, see?" it shrieked. "This is why Dia hates him!"

"Hush, you silly boy!" Clopin exclaimed to his puppet. "He gives us no reason to act violently towards him."

"He tried to kill you and says he'll do it again!" Clopin stroked his beard.

"I suppose you are correct, Puppet." He turned to Oliver, who gave him the same expression one would give a shifty looking man talking to himself. "Do you think I should kill you?" he asked in a voice like a child asking for candy.

"If you live to do so," Oliver spat.

"Then it's final!" Clopin said, and left the wagon.

"You told him to kiss you?" Esmeralda gasped. The two women sat in Diamanta's wagon talking about her event with Clopin. Diamanta sat hugging her legs to her body, her face a deep crimson.

"It just slipped out of me," she explained.

"How could 'kiss me' slip out?"

"I…I don't know. Now he wants to talk to me about it!"

"Well, of course he does! What are you going to say?" Esmeralda asked. Diamanta shrugged and looked at herself in the mirror Clopin gave her, only to realize that more than herself and Esmeralda were in the wagon. A dumpy looking man with a rather large stomach stood at the wagon entrance. Diamanta spun around.

"Hello, Fred," she said calmly, as if nothing happened earlier that day.

"Come outside," he noticed Esmeralda sitting on the floor, "both of you." The three of them stepped out of the wagon.

"What is this about?" Esmeralda asked. Fred pointed to an area near the Court of Miracle's entrance, where several gypsies created a gallows for enemies to be hanged. To the two women's surprise, Oliver was shoved onto the platform by Clopin, who placed a noose around Oliver's neck.

"No," Diamanta whispered to herself.

"Gather 'round, everybody! There's good 'noose' tonight!" Clopin shouted. He introduced Oliver. "It's our newest gypsy! Oliver, who stole and treaded upon the heart of one of our most lovely gypsies!" The large crowd that formed around the gallows booed. "Oh, but that's not all! He made an attempt to murder your very own king!" He pointed to himself.

"This can't be happening," Diamanta said softly. She watched Clopin walk along the stage singing one of his more popular songs among the gypsies.

"Justice is swift in the Court of Miracles. I am the lawyers," he began, and in an instant his outfit changed to that of a lawyer. Another second passed and he wore a judge's uniform. Diamanta shook her head. How could Clopin do this? "And judge all in one!" He lifted up the robes to his knees and pranced across the platform in a childish manner. I may have decided to break things off with Oliver, but I never wanted him dead! "We like to get the trial over with quickly because it's the sentence that's really the fun!" Again Clopin changed into an executioner's outfit. "Any last words?" Clopin put a hand to his ear. Oliver shouted something through his gag. "That's what they all say," Clopin said. He switched back to the judge's outfit. "Now that we've seen all the evidence—"

"Wait, I object!" Diamanta whirled her head around to see who said that. Possibly, someone had mercy on Oliver. Then she realized this was Clopin's puppet, a simple part of the act.

"Overruled!"

"I object!"

"Quiet!" Clopin threw the hat onto his puppet's head.

"Dang!" came the muffled cry from under the hat. The king of gypsies rushed to Oliver's side.

"We find you totally innocent." Maybe, in some way, Oliver was meant to die, Diamanta thought to herself. "Which is the worst crime of all." He did try to kill Clopin. Maybe this was meant to be. "So you're going to hang!" Something inside Diamanta disagreed with her thoughts, and screamed out a single word."

"Stop!" Clopin turned his head to the sound of the voice. Diamanta ran up onto the platform. "You can't do this," she said to Clopin. His mouth dropped open.

"What? Dia, do you know what he did to me? Do you know what he did to you? How can you show mercy on such a horrible character? Dia, I gave him a chance to live and he simply threatened my life." Diamanta took a deep sigh. Something told her she was making a big mistake.

"Don't kill him. Somehow, God's willing, things will work out. You have to trust me, Clopin." Reluctantly, he took off the gag in Oliver's mouth. Oliver smirked.

"Now get me out of this noose so I can claim her. She's mine, Clopin, and—"

"Hang him," Diamanta said. Clopin's eyes lit up.

"What?" Oliver exclaimed.

"Even at the brink of death, you don't even show the slightest trace of humbleness. You haven't changed, Oliver. You're still the cold-hearted snake who took advantage of me and tried to murder someone so close to me." Oliver spat at her feet.

"Pathetic woman," he hissed. Diamanta turned around and walked off the platform, not even bothering to see the man who was once her beau die.